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By H. H. STODDARD, 

Editor of " The Poultry World," and "American Poultry Yard," 

Author of "An Egg Farm," "Poultry Architecture," "How to Win Poultry 

Prizes," " Poultry Diseases," " White Leghorns," 

" Brown Leghorns," Etc. 



HARTFORD, CONN. 
1880. 



THE 



PLYMOUTH ROCKS 



HOW TO 



MATE. REAR Am JUDGE THEM. 



By H. H. STODDARD, o 

, EDITOR OF "THE POULTRY WORLD," AND "THE AMERICAN POULTRY 
^\^^' YARD." AUTHOR OF "AN EGG FARM," "POULTRY ARCHI- 
^^ ! TECTURE," "BROWN LEGHORNS," "WHITE LEG- 

HORNS," "HOW TO WIN POULTRY PRIZES," "POULTRY DISEASES," 
ETC., ETC. 



m- 



HARTFORD, CONN. 



( 



1880. 






PREFACE. 

No breed of fowls have attracted more attention or 
gained more popularity on account of their sterling qual- 
ities than the Plymouth Rocks have during the past few- 
years. The peculiar make-up of these fowls has given to 
them a certain hardiness which fits them for the farm 
and recommends them to the ordinary poultry keeper. 

Thousands are now striving to improve this compara- 
tively new breed. The faults as well as the fine points 
should be well understood. Fanciers have been engaged 
disseminating Plymouth Rocks, supplying the demand. 
The call now is for Standard birds^ not for those with 
dark beaks and legs and indistinctly-marked plumage. 

During the next ten years there ought to be a weed- 
ing out of the minor faults which are apparent even in 
the best strains. Very superior specimens will be in de- 
mand, and he who can produce Plymouth Rocks with 
the best symmetry and color of plumage, legs, beaks and 
ear-lobes, and well-shaped combs, will reap his reward. 
This book is intended to help on the good cause. 



Copyright, by H. H. STODDARD, 1880. 



The Plymouth Rocks. 

-^Cv$-< • 



T A THAT the Plymouth Rock of to-day should be, al- 
most every fancier thinks he knows. That the 
type held in the mind's eye of each separate fancier is 
not a universally accepted one is of little moment, it is 
sufficiently near the same thing in all cases to show that 
the breed is no longer a thing to be, but an accom- 
plished entity. 

Years of breeding will, of course, draw the threads 
which weave the traits of forgotten ancestral stock to a 
more perfect web, and we shall have a fowl as perfect 
in its reproduction as any of the longest-cultivated vari- 
eties of to-day; but probably no period of equal length 
will show such improvement as the five years preceeding 
1880. Truly there must have been good material at hand 
to make a cross that in such a short time could be 
brought to such a nobly prominent position as the Ply- 
mouth Rock holds to-day. Let us see what were the 
influences of blood and breeding that were at v/ork. 



6 THE PL TMO UTH BOCKS. 

DOMINIQUE AND JAVA. 

It is now universally admitted that the Plymouth 
Rock is the resultant of the process of breeding the old- 
fashioned Dominique — the native American fowl — on 
Black Java hens, a sort now nearly or quite unknown in 
this country; but who originated this cross is a matter 
of dispute which will probably always remain in statu quo. 
It is enough for the breeder to know that the union of 
the hawk-color and the black was effected, and few will 
care for purposeless search beyond Drake or Ramsdell or 
Upham. We are all looking forward and not backward, 
and were the entire past of this breed — save the knowl- 
edge of what the cross was — blotted out, breeders would 
be no way troubled to manage their stock as success- 
fully as ever. Still, the history of the breed contains 
much of interest, and we will give briefly the history of 
Plymouth Rocks — ancient and modern — before going into 
the discussion of questions more immediately affecting 
their treatment in the present. 

OLD LINE ROCKS. 

Of the varied elements which went to the making of 
the Plymouth Rocks of 1849 there is little doubt, for 
we have the record of their original breeder. Dr. J. C. 
Bennett, as an authority. From this it appears that the 
male progenitor was a Cochin China cock, and the hen 
a cross of three distinct breeds — Great Malay, Fawn-col- 
ored Dorking and the Wild India fowl. All of the three 
latter were well known and commonly bred at the time 



THE PL TMO UTH BOCKS. 7 

when this cross was made, but have since been supplant- 
ed by improved varieties. 

The Great Malay was of Asiatic blood and was always 
exhibited in that class at the poultry shows, but, except 
as a new wonder in the class which then was such a 
source of astonishment to all beholders, had little merit. 

The Fawn-colored Dorking was, as its name implies, 
a Dorking, neither more nor less, and very much such a 
bird as is now bred under the name of Colored Dork- 
ing, presumably. Of the Wild India fowl we know little. 
Its influence on the original Plymouth Rock was, of course, 
small and had no great or perceptible influence on the 
bird. 

In shape, the Old Line Rocks were rather triangular — 
a probable souvenir of the Cochin blood — with a slight 
leaning toward the squareness of the Dorking, from whcm 
they inherited also a frequent fifth toe. From the Cochin 
they took leg-feathering, and from the mixed blood of the 
several parent stocks, plumage of diverse colors laid on 
in a helter skelter manner that was unique but hardly 
aesthetically correct. 

Spite of all these defects of one sort and another 
the breed was well liked and had many adherents. It is 
very likely that while the admixture of so many uncul- 
tivated and strong bloods brought out a mixed and 
unsightly coat, they induced also an extraordinary amount 
of hardiness and fertility, but the record of the breed is 
so scanty that we have scarcely enough data to assure 
us that such was the case. 

However that may be ; whatever their excellences, the 



S THE PL YMO UTH BOOKS. 

incipient breed ran out completely, or ran in to anything 
and everything by admixture with diverse breeds, and for 
years no Plymouth Rocks existed. Then came another 
fowl of entirely new blood and finding the name ready- 
made but the fowls it used to represent extinct, accepted 
it as the title best suited to its solid merits. At this 
point the Old Line Rocks disappear : henceforth the title 
Plymouth Rock means the fowl of to-day. 

ADVANTAGES OF PEDIGREE. 

AVe need hardly, at this late day, when so many 
thousand choice fowls have been registered in the Ameri- 
ca7i Poultry Pedigree Book, point out the desirability of 
keeping an exact record of the lineage of our stock. In 
all varieties of cleanly-bred fowls some such register is 
of the utmost value. Not only does it give us easily 
accessible data concerning our own stock, but it enables 
u; to buy a more perfectly-defined bird than we could, 
in all probability, otherwise obtain. When selling stock 
we can always command better prices for a bird whose 
genealogy we are not afraid to publish openly to the 
world than for another equally good, to all appearance, 
which is a solitary specimen and of unknown extraction. 

There is good reason for this in the fact that a bird 
by all the ordinary tests may rank high and yet be 
simply a mongrel, the "come-by-chance" offspring of 
different breeds or even of mongrel stock. 

This last is particularly liable to be the case with 
the Plymouth Rock, which, in plumage is somewhat like 
the hawk colored dunghill bird once so common and even 



THE PL TMO UTH ROCKS. g 

now often seen in a yard where common stock is accus- 
tomed to run with a kisty Plymouth Rock male. All 
who have bred the variety which is the subject of this 
monograph know from practical experience, that in breed- 
ing from even the best strains we obtain many imperfect 
chickens, which, if allowed to grow to maturity become 
imperfect fowls. In point of fact such birds are often 
reared and kept for sitters. Now, if these imperfect birds 
are bred to standard specimens, although the general re- 
sult is poor, a few choice cockerels or pullets may be 
obtained. 

We have then stock that will sell readily on its ap- 
pearance, yet is subject to a constant uncertainty on the 
score of reproduction. It is precisely here that the Ped- 
igi'ee Book tells the story, for as we trace the line back- 
ward we come to a gap where the blood of the imperfect 
and unregistered sire or dam was introduced. 

Let no one for a moment suppose that we advocate 
the theory than an un-pedigreed fowl may not be as true 
and pure as any other. Of course, good birds may be 
reared in quantity and never registered, and plainly their 
registration can make no point a whit better, but how 
can we show to those who are looking for choice birds, 
that we have what they are seeking. It is well enough 
to write to the enquirer that the fowls are from superior 
stock, and that the line can be traced back through 
many a fine sire and dam, but it hardly answers the 
purpose of one who wishes to get fresh blood as nearly 
identical in general character with his own, as possible. 

Pedigree registration is a sort of commercial agency, 



1 o THE PL YMO UTH ROCKS. 

which saves tedious processes of inquiry for each patron, 
and enables him, by the payment of a small sum, to get 
information that were he alone to endeavor to collect it 
v/ould cost thousands of dollars. 

BREEDING LARGE NUMBERS. 

Beginning with strictly pure and finely marked breed- 
ing stock we may yet in the course of a very few seasons 
go from bad to worse so rapidly as to have, ere our 
flock is in its fourth year, little better than dunghill stock. 
To avoid this fate we must have recourse to the plan 
indicated by our title in this chapter and breed large 
numbers of chicks yearly. There is a constant shrinkage 
in our number of young birds from the time they chip 
the shell till they are fully grown, no matter how carefully 
we may meet their needs as far as we know them. 

In estimating, then, the number of eggs that must be 
set and the chicks we expect to hatch out we must allow 
a liberal possible percentage of loss, so that after deduct- 
ing for every cause we may still rear a large number of 
fowls to the age where we can readily tell which are 
worth preserving. At this point comes in another, and 
with this breed quite appreciable, item of subtraction. It 
is but fair to say that if we start with twenty chicks 
not more than fifteen will live to the age of broilers, 
and of these not more than ten or eleven be worth 
saving until riper age shows their value more clearly. 
Of this number, not more than three or four will be 
first class, and the other six or seven "fair to middling." 
This supposition is, of course, not in accordance with 



THE PL YMO UTH BOOKS. 1 1 

the experience of all breeders, but it may represent a 
fair average sample merit and is sufficiently accurate to 
answer the purpose of the illustration. 

It is self evident that the breeder who has but three 
or four good birds to show for his season's breeding is 
in no position to sell any stock, for a single trio would 
exhaust his resources and leave him plus some cash, two 
cockerels and his old stock. Neither has he enough 
fowls to continue the business on an increased scale the 
next season. To all intents and purposes he has lost a 
year. 

To prevent such a misfortune there is but one re- 
source ; we must breed large numbers. If, instead of 
twenty the breeder starts two hundred chicks and with 
good management rears thirty or forty number one cock- 
erels and pullets, he has reason to be very well satisfied 
with his work. With such a number he can sell stock 
enough to repay the season's outlay, give him a profit, 
and leave plenty of lusty young stock for the coming 
breeding season. 

The reasons we have already given for rearing large 
numbers hardly need anything to supplement their force, 
yet the point which most nearly affects the fancier is to 
come. Every breeder is called upon during the show 
season to furnish exhibition fowls properly matched for 
show purposes, and if he has plenty of stock to select 
from, can fill such orders at a good profit in both rep- 
utation and coin. To make the best choice of a prize 
trio, the breeder must have the requisite amount of ma- 
terial. Could a skilled Plymouth Rock breeder have a 



1 2 THE PL YMO UTH ROCKS. 

lot of one thousand fowls from which to pick prize win- 
ners, there can be no doubt that he would get far better 
results than if he had ten separate flocks of one hundred 
each with no power to match birds from one flock with 
those from another. As the number from which choice 
is to be made decreases the excellence of the matchings 
must be rapidly lost until we reach the point where but 
one trio is available and no choice remains. 

To sum up this whole question briefly, we may say 
that breeding large numbers is the greatest secret in 
poultry breeding yet discovered. It may not be easy to 
breed large numbers the first year, but after the attend- 
ant machinery is well set in motion we can easily keep 
it going smoothly. We can hardly give a better or more 
pithy dictum for the consideration of ponltrymen gener- 
ally than that contained in the three words, " breed large 
numbers." But do not crowd many in one flock or one 
place. 

THE BREEDING COCK. 

In breeding poultry of any variety it is of absolute 
importance that the male bird be virile to the highest 
possible point. His power of procreation should be one 
of his chief merits. No matter how cleanly marked his 
plumage may be if he is sluggish in his motions and 
pays little attention to his flock, he isn't worth a pica- 
yune for breeding purposes. "Off with his head." 

Hens will lay as well or even better when not asso- 
ciated with a cock, and if we cannot have a crower that 
will thoroughly fertilize the eggs, we might better save 



THE PL YMO UTU ROCKS. 1 3 

the time of the sitting hens and our own annoyance, by 
using the eggs for cuHnary purposes. 

In this connection we may very properly note the fact, 
that a male bird kept stived up in confined quarters will 
lose his virility to an extent that few breeders who have 
not watched the effect of such treatment will credit. 
Even if he comes of a long line of fowls noted for 
their prepotency, his prestige as a stock-getter cannot 
overcome the withering influence of close confmement. 

When, as is sometimes the case, a run large enough 
to give all the fowls the privilege of afuple range cannot 
be had, it will be found a good plan to keep the cock 
apart from the hens until the breeding season arrives 
and then divide the hens into two small flocks with 
which the male is placed on alternate days. Under such 
a system better results have been obtained, in a majority 
of cases, than by the common method. 

The male has a share in determining the size, shape 
and plumage of many more chicks than has any one of 
the hens, and hence is more necessarily the very best 
bird attainable than any one of the hens he consorts 
with. His influence extends to all the chicks while that 
of each hen affects only a small percentage. 

The perfect cock of a Plymouth Rock breeding pen 
should be full standard weight, but little over it. He 
should be "built from the ground up" with unmistakable 
solidity but no clumsiness. The toes strong and clean 
cut, not running to the nail as thick as at their junction 
but tapering, above the foot a clean solid leg of a rich 



1 4 THE PL YMO UTH ROCKS. 

golden color undimmed by parasitic blotches, and resting 
on this the solid clear-barred body. 

We need hardly describe the carriage of an active 
Grower of this breed for the image that rises in the 
mind of every fancier is nearly the same. Solidity is its 
most apparent characteristic ; while the sober gray of the 
plun-;age is offset and enlivened by the clear red of 
comb and wattles and the brightness of the eye. 

The Plymouth Rock is a satisfying bird in almost 
every sense. Look at a flock of these birds at a dis- 
tance and you can scarce distinguish the males, at first 
sight, but examine closer and the eye soon learns that 
the first-class Plymouth Rock male is as truly in all 
points the head of the house as in the case of his more 
gaudily plumed brethren, the Games or Hamburgs. Give 
us good males and the task of producing noble speci- 
mens is a comparatively easy one. 

Farther on we shall speak of the comparative merits 
of light and dark cocks, and just here merely remark 
that whether light or dark see to it that the markings 
are clearly defined. The bars should be clean cut and 
distinct in every part of the plumage up to the eyes 
and down to the bottom of the thighs. 

Aside from plumage, the symmetry, breast and body 
are very properly made prominent in the Standa7'd of 
Excellence. A full round breast is of the utmost import- 
ance and no solicitude in regard to color of plumage, 
ear lobes and leg, or shape of comb should lead us to 
overlook the advantages of that robustness and rotundity 
that give the progeny vigor, size, and a fine carriage. 



THE PL YMO UTH ROCKS. 1 5 

Symmetry is the proportion which the parts bear to 
each other. A coat may be well enough on one man 
but out of all proportion on another, and so a comb 
or neck or tail that is well enough in itself and enhances 
symmetry on one bird, would have a contrary effect on 
another, because not harmonising properly with the other 
members. 

Every year people are learning the distinctive shape of 
Plymouth Rocks The chromos and engravings made to 
represent specimens help to fix true ideas of their shape 
or proper symmetry. It is not easy to write a des- 
cription of the symmetry of this breed. One can better 
learn this at exhibitions, where the best specimens may 
be seen. It would be very bad policy to breed from a 
cock having a very long neck and short legs, or having 
legs very long and standing near together. The comb is 
very liable to be crooked, carried too far back, pimply^ 
or irregular in its serrations. A small comb, thick at 
the base, is apt to be free from faults, while a large 
comb is generally uneven, lopped, or has kinks and sprigs. 
These sprigs are only the reversion toward the rose-comb 
of the Dominique ancestry. The comb is the hardest 
thing to get right on any breed of fowls. Large wattles 
generally indicate potent breeding properties, unless the 
bird is coarse, leggy and overgrown. 

THE BREEDING HEN. 

Ever since Eve was created, the female has been of 
the lesser public importance in uncivilized life. (That 
women rule the men of this century has nothing to do 



1 6 THE PL YMO UTH ROCKS. 

with the matter.) Feathered stock furnishes no exception 
to this rule, yet good hens are as absolutely necessary 
to careful breeding for nice points as good males. 

As with the other sex the great desiderata are Stand- 
ard weight, harmonious outline and clean markings. Due 
regard to these fundamental requirements will cause many 
promising chickens to see the light and give us, if we 
have obtained a male such as we have described, a number 
of first-class birds. Still, in selecting hens for breeding 
there is one thmg more to be done if we would have 
the most satisfactory flock ; and that is getting hens and 
pullets that are matched in degree of color as well as 
in other points. 

Nothing will sooner disgust visiting fanciers than a 
lot of fowls, all Plymouth Rocks, to be sure, but scarce 
any two fairly even in point of color ; while no one 
excellence will insure more sales than uniformity. Like 
produces like in this matter very nearly, and we can by 
a little thoughtful work at mating time help materially 
the progress toward uniform coloring, we are all aiming 
to push to the point where progression stops and per- 
fection is attained. 

MATING. 

Shall one mating be made for the purpose of pro- 
ducing well-colored males, and another to produce females, 
or shall the fancier mate one way for the production of 
both sexes ? Shall the practice be followed of mating 
light birds of one sex with dark ones of another, or is 
it better to select nothing for breeding stock excepting 



THE PL YMO UTH MOCKS. 1 7 

medium-colored birds of both sexes, of the same shade 
of color like those preferably . exhibited together ? These 
questions are continually agitated among Plymouth Rock 
men. 

The reply is, that while very light and very dark 
birds should never be used as breeders at all, yet in the 
present state of the breed, moderately light may be ma- 
ted with moderately dark ones, or medium (neither light 
nor dark), may be mated to medium. Also, different 
combinations may advantageously be made according as 
our object may be to get pullets or cockerels. That the 
breed will ever arrive at that stage where the males 
will be naturally produced as dark as the females we 
very much doubt, and till that time arrives we must 
make the best of things as we find them, and at the 
same time, try to bring about that state of things as 
well as we know how. 

At present, and ever since the breed was known the 
males have "run light" and the hens dark. That is, in 
every yard of Plymouth Rocks the fowls are found vary- 
ing in color, both cocks and hens. Among the former 
a very few are what would be called dark, a considerable 
number medium, and a large number light, or very light, 
so that they may be called light as a rule. The hens 
are in greatly preponderating numbers, very dark, a few 
lighter and a very few what may be called light, or 
about the same shade as a dark medium cockerel. 

These light pullets and dark medium cockerels match 
in the pen, and from them are selected the exhibition 
birds. They are desirable, but few ; being few they are. 
2 



1 8 THE PL YMO JJTE ROCKS. 

in great demand. Breeders wish to mate their stock in 
such manner as to produce the greatest number of these 
light-colored pullets. Every year in which the lightest col- 
ored pullets are used successively tends to Jix a lighter 
shade on the female side. The light-colored cockerel and 
the black hen draw in opposite directions. Can the 
Plymouth Rocks be so changed by breeding as to ap- 
proximate, and finally draw together ? Perhaps so and 
perhaps not. It can only be accomi^lished, if at all, by 
patience and effort in the right direction. It never will 
be done by persistently using a light cock. 

The change must be gradual. It will be advisable 
for the breeder to make three matings. In the first 
place, all the lightest cockerels and all the darkest pul- 
lets should be rejected as unfit to breed. Then much 
attention should be given to the color of the legs. It 
is very important that a breeding cockerel should have 
not only legs yellow, but vefj yellow legs. The pullets 
at first can not be found in considerable numbers with 
pure yellow legs, but after culling out all that show 
glaring imperfections, and those very light or very dark, 
take of the remainder those pullets that are the darkest 
and mate them with one of the lightest cockerels not 
near akin. This mating will not produce exhibition cock- 
erels, and the majority of the pullets will be about the 
color of the dam — the lightest will be useful. 

Then take those pullets a few shades lighter than 
those of the first mating and mate them with a medium 
colored cockerel. This mating will produce a good per 
cent, of standard chicks, more especially cockerels. 



THE PL YMO UTH ROCKS. 1 9 

Lastly, place the lightest - colored pullets with a dark 
medium cockerel. In this mating the sexes are nearly 
of one color. Every breeder should make such a mating 
as this every year. We have conversed with many breed- 
ers who have made this practice without getting black 
chicks, but just so sure as the thing is overdone and 
you use too dark a cock in the breeding pen you will 
have a lot of pullets as black as crows, with green-black 
legs. The whole season's produce may be easily ruined 
in this way. The matter of extreme colors should be 
discontinued entirely as soon as may be, and the breed- 
er should have in view the bringing about of a unni- 
formity of color in the sexes. 

Yet it may be doubted whether we ever can produce 
Plymouth Rocks that shall tend invariably, to produce 
males as dark as the females, and females as light as 
the males. The old Black Java hen has been made too 
much of a scape-goat. There are, no doubt, instances 
in the animal kingdom where traits originally intro- 
duced through one sex tend to persist in that sex 
alone. But experiments in mating a Black Cochin Cock 
to an average American Dominique hen and rearing the 
products of the cross for three generations have proved 
that the dark pigment still appeared chiefly in the pul- 
lets rather than in the cockerels. This might have been 
expected in advance, because analogy teaches it. Nearly 
all our breeds whose plumage contains both light and 
dark feathers, or markings, naturally throw males whose 
color wil average lighter than that of the females. The 
hackle and saddle of the cock inclines to be lighter than 



2d THE PL YMO UTH ROCKS. 

the corresponding portions of the hen and certain por- 
tions of his tail and wings contain relatively larger patches 
of white, which make his average color lighter than hers. 
For example S. Po Hamburgs, S. S. Hamburgs and Col- 
ored Dorkings. 

Again, the Black Java cocks, like the Black Cochin 
males, tend towards light or golden saddles and hackles 
and the American Dominique males have the same ten- 
dency. Now as the Black Java and American Domin- 
ique males are both lighter than the respective females 
and as the Plymouth Rocks are based on these two 
breeds, will the time ever come when our Plymouth 
Rocks will average of the same color in both sexes ? 

PLYMOUTH ROCK CHICKS. 

We need hardly go over the ground we have care- 
fully examined in our previous books, and take those who 
would learn the best methods from raising chicks from 
the egg to maturity through the whole curriculum, for it 
may be found in our earlier works. There are, however, 
some points particularly worth notice in relation to the 
chicks of this breed that may well receive a moment's 
attention. 

Of the care during the first few days after hatching, 
little need be said in the present treatise. At the expi- 
ration of that time, if any signs of unusual mortality 
show themselves it is worth while to institute a rigid 
search for the cause, for there always is a cause for 
these things. If the breeding stock and the eggs were 
favorable, and the management is right, chickens ought 



THE PL YMO UTH ROCKS. 2 1 

not to die. Poultrymen ought not to expect, as a matter 
of course, mortality among their broods of any noticeable 
amount. 

If parasitic vermin are making ravages, go for them 
with Carbolic Powder or Persian Insect Powder. If corn- 
meal dough has been the diet, and we are assured that 
it has not been given in too wet a state, and yet scours 
are noticed, a change from that to clabbered milk may 
be found a sovereign remedy. Should milk be not easily 
accessible, a few grains of red pepper or a little of the 
powder of the German Roup Pills, one sixth as much 
per head per day as is prescribed for adult fowls in the 
directions, will be found very efficacious. If on the other 
hand constipation becomes general, as it sometimes does, 
a diet of shorts or shorts and corn-meal, wet to a crum- 
bly consistence, frequently removes the trouble. 

At the age when broilers are beginning to be thought 
of, and the breeder's eye runs over his flock to cull out 
the least promising, the greatest care must be used in 
selection. We cannot now as we could but a few years 
ago, take all the black and leave all the gray ones, for 
blacks are few and far between nowadays, if the method 
of mating has been "half-way decent." We must use 
close inspection and the knowledge which past years have 
given us of the various changes which occur during the 
development of growing birds, to pick out the right ones. 
Many a chick that the uninitiated eye would call worth- 
less will at maturity, when the brownish gray has given 
place to clear bars, be very good, while better marked 
birds have developed into disqualified specimens. 



2 2 THE PL TMO UTH ROCKS. 

In making choice of birds for the table, fanciers of- 
ten overlook one or two points that may serve as relia- 
ble guides. One of these is the breast-bone. How many 
breeders in selecting culls at this age look for a crooked 
breast-bone ? Yet this is a serious blemish, and should 
summarily condemn any chick possessing it. In every 
flock there are more or less chicks thus deformed, and 
if we make these our first choice for the slaughter, we 
may well let others, with no irremediable failing, live a 
little longer. 

Another thing to be looked after is the "pope's nose," 
which will determine the carriage of the tail and the 
value of the bird. If this is very evidently awry we 
need look for no other defects but condemn the fowl to 
the block. Weed out all the chicks with crooked bones 
anywhere, and the rest of the flock may well be granted 
a little longer lease of life. 

The sex of the young stock, though it is not so 
readily ascertained as in other breeds, may be borne in 
mind in culling. A hen is a hen just as an egg is an 
egg, and though a poor Plymouth Rock cockerel is not 
worth his salt except for market, an inferior hen may 
be valuable as a sitter, if you have an out-of-the-way 
yard to keep such eyesores in. Even among the males 
we may make a distinction, using the very light ones 
and those with white wing or tail feathers for the table, 
before deciding upon the merits of the darker specimens. 
We might go on and give in their order the reasons 
which lead the careful breeder to a judicious choice in 
this all-important matter, but need hardly do so, for we 



THE PL 7 MO UTH ROCKS. 23 

have said enough to show the possibiHties of the subject 
and lead to the best of all knowledge, that acquired 
through the results of accurately-noted experiments. 

In weeding out culls of this breed you must be very 
cautious and not condemn an immature bird too hastily 
on the ground of off-color in either plumage; legs or 
beak. The color of the feathers changes a great deal in 
the course of the growth of the young bird, so that 
specimens apparently the best turn out the worst often- 
times, and vice versa. As regards beak and legs, many a 
time the obnoxious willow or dusky tinge hangs on ob- 
stinately for months and then suddenly begins to disap- 
pear with great rapidity. Now that the popular methods 
of marking birds by means of punches and rings are in 
vogue, it will repay the careful breeder to set down in a 
book a description of doubtful birds at successive stages 
of their growth, and in this way learn by experience 
what changes to expect while specimens of certain char- 
acteristics are maturing. Refer to this book the next 
year, and in time you will learn which faults are com- 
monly outgrown and which are irremediable. 

SPORTS AMONG THE ROCKS. 

Plymouth Rock fowls rarely throw what are known as 
"sports." Still such occurrences as the production of 
white chicks are sometimes heard of. It may be of in- 
terest to note the experience of a breeder as given in 
the AiiiericiiJi Poultry Yard, who says : 

" I have in my possession a white Plymouth Rock 
chick, hatched the 15th of May. The eggs I set from 



24 TEE PL YMO UTH ROCKS. 

my own yard ; there have been no other hens and no 
other cock in the yard but Plymouth Rocks. The chick 
is about as white as a, White Leghorn, but the shape is 
the same as the rest of the Plymouth Rocks that were 
hatched out in the same nest. The cockerel from which 
the chick was bred is a fine one. If any one can tell 
where and how the chick became white, I would like to 
hear from him; for what I say in regard to it I know 
is true. Is this a sport?" 

To this last query we are inclined to return a de- 
cided affirmative. Albino fowls are rarer than coal-black 
ones in all breeds, as far as our experience goes, but 
are by no means very uncommon. A black fowl of this 
breed, though it may be called a case of reversion, can- 
not properly be called a sport. It is rather a fowl that 
"throws back" to a distant ancestor. The time when 
every year brought a number of pure black pullets is 
too fresh in the breeders mind to allow such a term to 
be applied to it at present. Ten, or perhaps five years 
hence, the epithet may become current, but hardly before 
that time. 

Sports occur in every breed even under the best man- 
agement, and, we make no doubt, are as plenty in the 
Plymouth Rock tribe as in any other. The time may 
come when all breeds of fowls known to the • Standard 
will be so perfect as to throw no sports, but when that 
happens the millenium will begin to loom like a ship in 
a fog. In fact, domestic fowls ought not to be expect- 
ed to ever breed perfectly true to color. Wild species 
breed with great uniformity in this respect generally. 



THB PLYMOUTH R0GK8. 25 

But the influences of domestication tend to break up and 
scatter the color in numerous directions. 

COMBS. 

This breed of fowls is generally acknowledged to be 
one of the most hardy and vigorous of all our domestic 
breeds, and is well fitted to stand the rigor of northern 
winters, if we except the single comb. In selecting breed- 
ing stock, both cocks and hens, it is advisable to use 
those, other points being equal, having rather small combs, 
well set on the head, not thin or inclined to lop. A 
small, thick, single comb will stand cold much better 
than one of the Leghorn style. The Staiidard requires a 
comb *' rather small." 

The experiment of attaching a pea-comb instead of a 
single one has been, we believe, tried in several instances 
with more or less success, and quite recently a breeder 
advertised Pea-combed Plymouth Rocks under the title of 
"re-improved." We have been unable, however, to obtain 
any reply to our inquiries as to how the pea-comb was 
obtained, and whether it is firmly fixed as a characteristic. 

Whatever the success or failure of the experiment in 
this particular case, tlie desirability of a race of Pea- 
combed Plymouth Rocks is so evident that we may ex- 
pect, in a very few years, a number of strains of the 
variety. 

THE STANDARD AND THE ROCKS. 

Hardly any breeders can be found who see in the 
autocratic pages of the Standard of Excelletice just the 



26 THE PL YMO UTH ROCKS. 

definitions they would place there. Yet this manual is so 
immensely superior to anything we have ever had before, 
that we may well be thankful for it, and find no fault 
with its matter relative to most breeds. For the Ply- 
mouth Rocks, however, we may claim an exceptional case, 
and a consquent exemption from the rule of — no grumb- 
ling. 

This state of the case is due, primarily, to the fact 
that while our Games, Leghorns and Brahmas were well 
reduced by the harmonizing influence of years of breed- 
ing to an easily obtained general type, the Plymouth 
Rocks were in their first stages of development. In 1869, 
be it remembered, the first Plymouth Rocks were exhib- 
ited, the old line Rocks of course excepted, and but a 
very few years later their popularity made some standard 
necessary. Different breeders were doing their utmost to 
improve the breed, but their lack of unity made their 
progress toward their end something like the efforts of 
the workmen of the tower of Babel. So a Standard was 
made, though no one considered it as a perfect work or 
the exponent of the perfect fowl all were working for. 
From time to time slight changes were made as there 
was necessity for them, but much is yet to be desired. 

Mating is the vexed point with the fancier, for months 
at a time, but we have a rule which is founded in ex- 
perience and builds itself cumulatively from year to year. 
For matching, however, we must rely on the Sta?idard^ by 
which official ratings are determined, and here we find a 
discrepancy which surely ought not to go unquestioned. 
According to the practice and belief of the most expe- 



THE PLYMOUTH ROCKS. 27 

rienced breeders, fowls matching in the show-pen must 
not only match as the Standard says they should, /. e., 
in being equally well barred in plumage, but also must 
be, as nearly as possible, of the same degree of color. 
So universal is this belief, although the Standard nowhere 
so dictates, judges give precedence to the pair nearest 
the same shade of color over others as good, perhaps, in 
everything else. 

It is easy to see that if the Standard is fully and 
completely right, judges and exhibitors are working a 
blind lead. This is one of those cases where no rigid 
rule can stand the weight of the common-sense opinion 
of the majority. If the mountain will not come to Ma- 
homet, the latter must move to the more powerful body. 
The Stajidard is no idol which can have a Juggernautic 
power, but simply the exponent of the best opinion. 
When it ceases to be this a change must come. 

Still we must make haste slowly and be sure we are 
on the right track before we step ahead. As regards the 
desirability of a clause in the Standard specifying that to 
be matched in color in the show-pen if is not necessary 
that the male should be as dark as the female, or stat- 
ing that it is admissible that in a pair the specimen of 
one sex may be lighter than the other — if the majority 
of breeders favor such an amendment, we should loin 
them most heartily, for, as we have said elsewhere in 
effect, we do not believe that nature intends the male of 
this breed to be dressed in as dark feathers as is the 
female. 

In making the shape which one breeder has so loudly 



28 TEE PL YMO UTE ROCKS. 

advocated as the standard one, we may run directly coun- 
ter to the views of many who have as good a right to 
their voice in the matter as any one. If we advocate a 
lowering of the prescribed weights, and an avoidance of 
all tendency to imitation of the Asiatics, we run full 
against a large faction. In short, the obstacles to hasty 
changes are many, and we can only hope for sure pro- 
gress by "making haste slowly," and only making addi- 
tions to our code as their necessity and feasibility are 
shown by full discussion. 

EXERCISE. 

There is enough blood of the lazy Asiatic poultry in 
the Rocks to make considerable tendency toward the de- 
velopment of internal fat and fatty degeneracy of con- 
stitution, hence the importance of securing exercise. As 
flight is forbidden to them, and limited ranges preclude 
roaming and the consequent exercise, our domestic fowls 
have, of necessity, to be provided for in some other way. 

When they are confined within narrow limits, and 
have no room or chance to exercise themselves, they 
should be provided with the means of scratching. To 
do this advantageously, bury your grain beneath some dry 
rubbish, coal ashes leaves, road dust or chaff, so that 
they will be compt^lled to use their feet in searching for 
the kernels. This agreeable and perfectly natural exer- 
cise gives warmth to the body, promotes digestion, and 
stimulates the secretions. 

Inactivity is the bane ot domestic fowls when restrict- 
ed It predisposes them to listlessness, engenders vicious 



THE PL TMO UTH MOCKS. 29 

habits and morbid desires, such as feather plucking, egg 
eating, etc. Hence, it is advisable to give your fowls all 
the exercise they will take. It stirs up the blood, keeps 
down internal fattening, and counteracts all tendencies to 
laziness, lousiness, and the consequent diseases which fol- 
low in their train. 

These remarks are especially applicable to the larger 
breeds, as their quiet dispositions and gross size incline 
them to be inactive. Compel them to "be up and do- 
ing," and to scratch for their daily share of food, and 
you will find a marked difference in the looks, health 
and fertility of your fowls. 

Winter, although considered a season of rest for do- 
mestic poultry, is manifestly detrimental to them in many 
ways. They are in a measure suddenly deprived of suc- 
culent green food, unctious morceaus of insects, the ge- 
nial warmth of the sun, the freedom of range, the ab- 
sence of calcerous matter, and other unconsidered trifles, 
which made up their summer bill of fare. Proper feed- 
ing and roomy quarters are indispensable to fowls at all 
seasons, but without plenty of exercise hens will not be 
healthy nor thrifty nor yield to the keeper a generous 
supply of eggs. If poulterers would exercise a little of 
their own judgment, and keep nature's ways constantly in 
view, they would find that every good laying hen is an 
inveterate scratcher, or active in some way or other and 
that by exercise their stocks would be vastly improved, 
confiding purchasers greatly benefited, and many millions 
of wealth annually added to the fowl interests of the 
country. 



so 



THE PL TMO JJTE ROCKS. 



JUDGING. 

AVe propose to show how the Standard should be 
applied to this breed, and shall begin with the A, B, C 
of the matter. The experts among our readers must re- 
member that there are thousands of beginners who every 
year come upon the stage. We aim to instruct such, 
and to this end our artist has made a series of draw- 




ig. I 



ings, illustrating the most glaring faults. We do not wish 
any of our readers to understand that such exti'eme cases 
of departure from the Standard as the cuts represent are 
common in the show room. Yet the failings illustrated, 
are not absolutely tinJznown at exhibitions, since the orig- 
inals of the drawings, with a few exceptions, were all 
found by our artist at shows, where they were sketched. 



THE PLYMOUTH ROCKS. 



31 



The novice should read this part of our treatise with 
a copy of the Standard before him, where he will find 
a numerical table, showing the 100 counts which are 
supposed to represent an ideal perfect bird. We doubt 
if a real perfect bird has yet been raised. The function 
of the judge is, therefore, to note how far each specimen 
falls below perfection. The pages of the Standard pre- 




Fig. 3. 



Fig. 4. 



ceding the table explain each part of the fowl — as head, 
beak, neck, legs, etc., minutely. Let our novice look at 
the beginning of the table, and he will find that 



SVMMETRY 

is allowed 12 counts. But the 12 counts are for a per- 
fect bird. If the judge finds that the particular bird he 



32 



THE PLYMOUTH ROOKS. 



is examining falls short of perfection in sywmefry, he does 
not award it 12 counts, in making his report, but cuts 
it down to II, or 10, or less, as the case may be. He 
proceeds in this way with size and weighty and so on 
through the table, and enters the whole number of counts 
the bird is entitled to upon his official report. The bird 
that gets the highest number of counts wins the first 
prize. 




Fig. 5- 



Fig. 6. 



There are certain broad principles which the judge 
should keep in mind, in order to render justice. In cut- 
ting down for defects he should consider the proportion 
which the number of counts, or ''^points,'' he removes 
bears to the whole number of points under that head in 
the table. Thus, if ''symmetry" in an imagined case is 
allowed 6 points in the table, and the judge cuts down 



THE PL TMO UTH ROCKS. 



33 



3 points, it takes away 07te half, and this is a heavy 
reduction : whereas, if symmetry is allowed 12 points in 
the table, in the case of some other breed, then a cut 
of 3 points is not so severe, relatively, because it takes 
away only 07ie quarter. Again, the judge should not cut 
twice for the same fault. If the specimen has ill-shaped 
wattles, for instance, and the judge cuts him down under 
that head, he must not consider the shape of the wattles 



^v^^ 



"^s 






iJS^^^lVv^r^ 







Fig. 7. 



Fig. 8. 



at all in cutting under the head of symmetry. Another 
thing should be observed in all judging : wherever several 
things are massed under one head (for example, "wattles 
and ear-lobes," in the Plymouth Rock table) the judge 
must fix the number of points the ideal wattles are en- 
titled to, and the number due the ideal ear-lobes, otherwise 
he will be liable to do injustice in adjudging between 
competing specimens where sometimes good ear-lobes may 
3 



34 THE PLYMOUTH BOOKS. 

chance to accompany defective wattles, or vice versa. On 
this matter an experienced fancier writes as follows : " I 
like your idea of dividing, sub-dividing, and distributing 
the tabulated numerical part of the Standai'd. I always 
do this, mentally, in judging, but it should be discussed 
and explained in poultry literature until it is perfectly 
understood. It might seem like a work of supererogation 
to publish explanations of the proper methods of applying 
the Standard in judging, but it would be very useful." 
It is a pity that the sub-division was not made when 
the Standard was issued. However, each judge can sub- 
divide for his own convenience in furthering justice. 

We believe most judges pass upon symmetry and con- 
dition first. It certainly is best to decide upon these 
heads before the fowl has been ruffled or disturbed by 
handling. In considering symmetry of Plymouth Rocks, 
the judge should recognize that the breed has a shape of 
its oum, and that in outline it should be neither Domin- 
ique, Cochin, Brahma, or Dorking. It should be Fly- 
mouth Rock. Our artist has aimed to show defects not 
excellences in the accompanying series of illustrations. 
We remark here that the cuts are not hlled-in or shaded 
to show the markings of the feathers — form, not color, 
being under discussion just now. The Cochin shape is 
very frequently found. The lower part of the breast 
being deficient in the cock, gives an approximation to 
the Cochin form. Figs, i and 8 give variations of the 
Brahma outline ; the first-mentioned also suggests the 
Cochin. Fig. 2 shows a specimen too leggy and long- 
necked. Sometimes the best birds are as elongated as 



THE PL YUO UTR ROCKS. 3 5 

this when young, but '' settle down " into good propor- 
tions after a while. Notwithstanding, a bird in this gawky 
stage should be cut severely in symmetry, or kept out of 
the show-room. Fig. 5 shows the other extreme, that is, 
legs too short, resembling those of the ''Creeper" breed. 
Occasionally such a dumpy bird is found indicating over- 
fattening. Our artist has also shown, in fig. 5, the defect 
called " hog back," the shape of the back being convex, 
instead of straight, or slightly concave. See • fig. 8, for 
the other extreme, the hollow of the back being too 
deep. 

What is m.eant by a shape excessively like the Dorking 
is shown by fig. 6, the outline approaching the parallel- 
ogram indicated by the dotted lines. In the opinion of 
leading fanciers there should be considerable of the Dork- 
ing shape — but as remarked above our artist intended to 
show defects mainly, not merits, and therefore has illus- 
trated extreme cases. A slight approximation to the 
parallelogram or Dorking style is all right. Figs. 3 and 
4 show a milder degree of the Dorking shape ; the former 
illustrating a very long-bodied fowl. Fig. 7 is of the 
Dorking shape, needing only the fifth toe and long sickle 
feathers to be complete. Our readers may see from the 
cuts that symmetry means the general outline of the bird, 
not the form of any particular member. 

We pass by 

SIZE AND WEIGHT, 

as the actual trial of the scales and the "suggestions to 
Judges'' in the Standard, make that part of. iudging as 
simple as weighing tea. 



36 THE PL YMO UTH ROCKS. 

CONDITION 

refers to health, and cleanliness, and perfection of the 
plumage. Health is shown by the vivid color of comb 
and wattles, the bloom or gloss of the plumage, and the 
alertness and general " wide-awakeativeness." The bird 
should be cut under this head if either too fat or too 
lean. Cleanliness needs no comment, since though the 
intrinsic value of a fowl may not be altered by dirt, yet 
it offends the eye, and destroys the attractiveness of the 
specimen. If feathers are torn and battered, the fowl 
loses under Condition^ but not under ''Symmetry," or any 
other head. 

HEAD. 

This, in the Plymouth Rock Standard, does not mean 
comb, or ear-lobes, or wattles, since they are provided 
for elsewhere. It means beak, and the crown of the 
head, principally, or the arch at the base of the comb, 
which mostly determines the shape of ihe head. Figs. 2, 
8, 9 and 15 show this arch too flattened, also, a too 
narrow space above the eye. Fig. 11 gives a much better 
arch at the crown of the head and a good height of 
skull above the eye. Fig. 17, is a head too long hor- 
izontally, from right to left, giving a very awkward ap- 
pearance. 

Passing, next, to 

COMB, 

we notice certain principal faults, namely : a lopped comb' 
by which we mean one that falls over entirely, like that 
of a Leghorn hen ; a twisted comb, fig. 10, that is, one 



THE PL 7 MO UTH ROCKS. 



37 



with a wavy outline, causing tlie points to appear out of 
a straight line, when viewed from the front ; side springs, 
or branches, fig. 14 ; a dishing comb, by which we mean 
one that has a hollow in the side, as shown in fig. 10, 
where the dark-shaded portion indicates the depression. 
Of course, in a dishing comb, the concavity is accom- 
panied by a corresponding bulge on the opposite side^ 
Then there is the shapeless comb, fig. 13, simply a het- 
erogeneous lump. Irregularity, in a less degree, is shown 
in figs. 12 and 16. Other varieties are the very low 






f 

Fig. Q. Fig. 10. 

comb, fig. 15, and the opposite extreir^e. Crooked tips 
are frequently seen, figs. 9 and 17. The faults in the 
cuts were designedly represented in an excessive degree. 
In a mild form all the defects we have described are 
very common in the show-room, for a good comb is the 
hardest thing to any breed upon any variety. For a 
lopped, twisted, sprigged, dished, shapeless, low, tall, or 
crescent-pointed comb, the judge should cut down i, i, 2, 
3, or more, counts. Of course, if the defects are very 
glaring, the specimen may lose even more than this. If 
the bird unites several of these defects, and is cut a 



38 



THE PLYMOUTH ROCKS. 



point or two on each, he will justly lose half or two 
thirds of the full number, eight. Frequently a slight lop, 
and a slight twist, and slight side sprigs are combined. 
Many birds may therefore be justly cut from 3 to 5 on 
the comb. 

We now come to 



EAR-LOBES AND >A^ATTLES, 

the amount for which is 6. We will follow the custom 
of most judges, and consider that wattles should have 3, 






Fig. 12. Fig. 13. Fig. 14. 

and ear-lobes 3, on our ideal bird. The Standard defines 
the color of wattles as bright red, yet we opine that, if 
pale, the cutting should be done under the head of Con- 
dition. The allotment of the 3 possible points on wattles 
will then depend on size and shape. There is the large, 
coarse variety, which accompanies a coarse bird, and an 
opposite defect consists in the other extreme. Fig. 17 
shows the defect of wattles of unequal length. This is a 
not very rare failing, which we have noticed on several 
occasions the past season at exhibitions, yet as it is not 
mentioned in the description of the comb in the Stand- 



TEE PLYMOUTH ROCKS. 



39 



ardf the cutting must be done under the head of Sym- 
metry. We frequently find the long, pendant wattles, fig. 
9, or the wavy or folded variety, fig. lo, and for these 
faults the cutting may also be done under the head of 
Symmetry, provided the wattles are made unlike — that is, 
unsymmetrical — by the defects mentioned. As the Standard 
specifies that the wattles must be well rounded, of course 
the pointed variety, fig. i6 ; the elongated sort, figs. 9 and 
17; the narrow, fig. 12; and the irregular, fig. 10, will be 
cut from I to 3 j^oints, while the egg-shaped wattles fig. 





Fig. 15. Fig. 16. 

14, or the purse-shaped, fig. 15, will fare much better- 
The ear-lobes may be cut for color. At least two of the 
three ideal points may be cut for the fault of whiteness^ 
If slightly spotted, or edged with white, cut half a point • 
if moderately bad, cut one point. For too large ear- 
lobes, or too small ones, cut one half to one point. 
Most breeders prefer ear-lobes that are free from wrin- 
kles, as if laid on smoothly, like a wafer on a letter, 
and the edges neatly rounded, but no attention should 
be shown to this in judging, as the Standard says noth- 



40 



THE PL TMO UTH BOCKS. 



ing about it. The Standard must be followed if it kills 
the horse. 

We proceed to describe some of the principal faults of 



THK TAIL 



in Plymouth Rocks. Fig. i8 represents a tail which is 
too short for a full-grown cock, though it would do very 
well upon a cockerel, in which case mature sickle-feathers 
would net be expected. Fig. 19 illustrates a tail with 





sickle-feathers too long. Sometimes still larger tails are 
found in the show-room, giving the birds too much of a 
Dominique appearance. As a shape approximating the 
Dorking, /. <?., with a rather long and square body, grows 
in favor, the longer tails to correspond will be in vogue. 
A very bad fault is a tail which is too upright (fig. 20); 
and a squirrel tail (fig. 21). where the tail stands from 
its roots toward the birds head, is a still worse fault. 

It must be remembered that if the specimen is cut 
down on account of a squirrel tail, or an upright tail, 



THE PL TMO XJTH ROCKS 



41 



or any other objectionable form or position, the tail must 
not be especially considered in deciding upon symmetry 
since the bird must not be cut twice for the same fault. 
Symmetry is not to be understood as referring to any 
particular member, but as signifying the general balance 
of parts. To illustrate, a coat may look well enough if 
hanging in a wardrobe ; but if made for a short man it 
will look out of proportion if worn upon a tall individual- 





The Staitdard mentions a wry tail as a disqualification, 
and disputes as to what a wry tail really is frequently 
arise at shows. It is no uncommon thing for a bird to 
carry the tail awry a part of the time, as a sort of 
freak or habit. A tendency will be found with some 
specimens to shake the tail or move it sidewise, for no 
particular purpose except "for the fun of it,' as quadru- 
peds move their tails. If a bird is noticed to carry the 
tail perfectly true a part of the time, and upon exami- 
nation the flesh and bone forming the foundation of that 



4 2 . THE PL YMO UTH ROCKS. 

member is true, it is not a 7vry tail. A wry tail is gen- 
erally accompanied by a wry back or crooked rump, 
which is noticeable after the fowl is plucked for cock- 
ing. Of course there can be no cutting for a wry tail. 
If it is decided to be a wry tail, the specimen must be 
thro\yn out of competition altogether. 

The judge should separate the possible number of 
points (6) into two parts ; one part to apply to the color 
of the tail and the remainder to the forin. Probably 
three for color and three for form would be a fair di- 
vision. Then for the various faults of form enumerated 
above, viz. : a too long, or too short, or upright, or 
squirel tail, cut from one half point to three points, ac- 
cording as the fault is slight or prominent. 

EXTRA WEIGHT. 

It is safe to predict that when the contest over the 
proper method of mating to produce birds that will be 
alike prize-winners, and suitable breeding birds is over 
the next point for discussion will be that of extra weight. 
Already protests against the tendency of breeders of every 
variety to push for extra weight have been heard. They 
have been few in number, so far, but unless we mistake 
not, they are but the straws which show that the tide 
has turned and will soon be running swiftly. 

It may seem strange that fanciers should individually 
be constantly striving to add a few ounces to the weight 
of their best birds when a little reflection must show 
them that all they can gain above the natural weight of 
the bird is an accumulation of internal fat. 



THE PL YMO UTU HOCKS. 43 

It is, indeed, almost as suicidal to stuff our best stock 
to repletion as was it to slaughter the goose of golden egg 
fame. Of what use are noble specimens as breeders, save 
to start a strain of prize-deserving birds, and how can they 
do this when the pressure of internal fat makes the cock 
too sluggish to properly perform his duties and the hens 
too oppressed to lay? 

In this matter it is safe to follow the old saying "let 
well enough alone," no matter how great the temptation 
to get the best of rival exhibitors on this score. We are 
ready enough to admit that the chances are in favor of 
the man who enters the heaviest birds, and that on the 
strength of premiums won eggs may be sold at an extra 
price. But, make a note of this, Plymouth Rock breed- 
ers — // does not pay. Eggs from overfed stock are a poor 
investment for any one, and for the breeder who sencs 
them out the worst possible. Send out eggs from stock 
which has been "crammed to win" and what happens: 
First comes complaint of a poor hatch and a request for 
a second sitting, you duplicate the first order and wait a 
report, which, when it comes reads somewhat as follows : 
*' Dear Sir : — The second sitting you sent me resulted in 
three chicks. So I have now seven chicks for my trouble 
in hatching out two clutches. I paid you a good price 
and expected something nice ; or at least good eggs. 
Your stock viust be pure and vigorous with a vengeance! 
Next time I send to you for stock I shall know it. 
Yours, very respectfully, John Smith." 

Now what, primarily, has brought about this result? 
Not infertile eggs ; not bad packing ; but simply a strife 



44 TEE PL 7M0 UTH ROCKS. 

for extra weight that brings forth imperfectly vitalized eggs. 
There is no royal road toward increased size In the 
best specimens of this breed, and when we endeavor to 
force nature's plans, though we may be apparently suc- 
cessful for a time, we but set going an agent that re- 
coils on our own heads to certain damage. 

When we get wise enough we shall know that the 
way to increase weight permanently is to select birds that 
weigh well when only moderately fat. Blood and bone 
and nerve and muscle carry the breeding power, and fat 
when present beyond a moderate quantity, is only an 
element of weakness. Besides, of what use is it to try 
so hard as many do to increase the weight of a breed ? 
The average-sized specimen of any variety of our fowls 
is healthier, more active, productive and profitable than 
his over-sized brother. 

POPULARITY. 

It is a hard matter to decide which of the three 
most prominent breeds of the Standard, the Plymouth 
Rock?, Leghorns and Brahmas, can claim the greatest 
number of fanciers, but we may safely say that in this 
year of grace eighteen hundred and eighty, neither of the 
two latter has an appreciably larger or more thorough 
popularity than the Plymouth Rocks. Many a man has, 
to be sure, given up this breed, after a year or two of 
trial, because of the difficulty of breeding to nicety of 
plumage. But for every deserter of this sort there have 
been two who were attracted by the noble qualities of 
the fowl. To the genuine fancier the spice of uncertainty, 



THE PL YMO UTII HOCKS. 45 

the probable possibilities (to coin a phrase), make the 
breeding of this variety a very entertaining study. 

Apart from the attraction we have spoken of come 
still more solid arguments in the fertility and other good 
qualities of the breed, which appeal to the most positive 
test for ascertaining the value of any breed — the pocket 
of the breeder. Any breed that fails to pay its bills can 
meet but little permanent popularity ; so, to invert the 
reasoning, we may feel sure that the popular breed is a 
paying breed. As surely as no system of ethics can live 
unless its rules gybe with common sense, so certainly can 
no type of fowls be perpetuated and held in high esteem 
unless its claims are founded on a common-sense, solid 
basis. 

A FAIR AVERAGE. 

The answer to the question. How many eggs will a 
hen lay ? depends largely on the hen, the breed she is 
of, and a variety of other considerations too numerous to 
mention. It is almost like asking how many good-sized 
apples are in a bushel. In short, no definite answer can 
be given to such a hydra-headed query. 

Ask a Cochin man, and he will say that the Cochins 
are the best layers, taking the year through. A Brahma 
man will say the same of his favorites, the Leghorn 
breeder of his fowls, and so on to the last fancier of the 
last variety. 

Without going so far as a recent writer, who gives 
the Plymouth Rocks the palm as the most fecund of all 
breeds, we may justly claim a high average. Doubtless 



46 THE PLYMOUTH ROCKS. 

in thisj as in almost any fine breed, hens may be found 
that reach as high an egg record as two hundred yearly, 
but they are and must be exceptions to the rule. A 
fair average, one that the hens of a pure and well-kept 
flock may be relied upon to produce, is from one hund- 
red and twenty to one hundred and fifty. No doubt by 
specially selecting the best layers and placing them under 
very favorable conditions, one hundred and seventy-five 
or one hundred and eighty might be made the figure. 
Yet this would be no real average, as it would represent 
not the average of the flock but of its best birds. 

Breeders of limited experience are apt to expect too 
much in the way of egg production, and take little or 
no thought of the time necessary for incubation and 
moulting. All these necessary times of respite for the 
egg-producing organs must be fully summed up before we 
can get a true idea of the work we may expect. 

It is worth while to remember that while in a state 
of wildness the progenitors of our Plymouth Rocks laid 
only as many eggs as were needed to keep the race 
alive. Since then, under the constant spur of man's tui- 
tion, they have increased the yearly work to ten times 
its original proportions, so that while it may not yet have 
reached its ultimate height, we are getting, in one hund- 
red and thirty eggs a year, a very fair average. 

WINTER LAYINO 

Though most fanciers begin to collect eggs for hatch- 
ing in the latter part of January and the month of Feb- 
ruary, so that raising eggs for market hardly enters into 



THE PL YMO UTH ROCKS. 47 

their calculations, fertility during the winter months is of 
prime importance. The demand of the buyer of mature 
stock is almost always for early hatched pullets. So 
thoroughly has the saw '* early chickens early eggs, early 
eggs early chickens " become believed, that chicks from 
eggs laid in February and early March always command 
better prices than later and less perfectly developed ones. 
It is, then, a great point in favor of the Plymouth Rock 
that we can truly commend them to all breeders as first- 
class w^inter layers. Any breed will, of course, lay in 
winter if kept in the tropical climate of a green-house, 
but the Plymouth Rock hen needs no such special ad- 
vantages to prove herself a good winter layer. With the 
ordinary conditions of house and runs which no poultry- 
man would think of denying his stock, she fairly contests 
the place which the Asiatics have so long held in the 
popular mind. 

Taking this matter of winter laying in its least profit- 
able aspect — that of simply obtaining a sufficient supply 
of eggs for home use and marketing at the price of 
ordinary eggs, there is still a splendid exhibit in favor of 
the Plymouth Rock. Taking the average of all the eggs 
produced in a year, this breed may not surpass some of 
the non-sitting varieties, but for the ti?nely production of 
eggs when eggs command a good price in the market 
they have few equals. To substantiate this assertion we 
might adduce hundreds of letters which have been sent 
us, but as they have mostly appeared in print in either 
the Poultry World or American Poultry Yard, we 
refer our readers to files of these papers, which are in 



4^ THE PLYMOUTH ROCKS. 

the hands of nearly all our fanciers. It may be worth 
while to remember that while all breeds of improved 
poultry are good layers, there is no equal ground which 
almost all reach and but few pass. There is as much 
difference as there is in blooded horses : all are fast but 
some much faster than others. The Plymouth Rock — to 
carry out the simile — is, in our opinion a member of the 
two-twenty class with many extra fine layers that make 
even a better record. 

Give any birds kind and sensible care and adequate 
results will follow, but with the same advantages the 
Plymouth will make for itself a record that few breeds 
can equal and fewer still excel. 



Directions for Using 

Carbolated Insect Powder, 



To kill lice oq fowls uixl pigeons, or tieas on cats aud dogs, dust the 
powder well inward to the skin, on every part of the animal. To apply it to 
a sitting hen, disturb her slightly vrhen on the Ticst at eight, c«using her 
to bristle up her feathers, when the powder may be sprinkled over every 
part of her head, neck, sides and back ; and. by scattering it all over the 
nest and eggs, it will be brought into contact with the hen's under parts, 
also. Treat a hen in the same way when she is brooding her chickens at 
night, and put some on the back of each chicken and over the whole of 
the floor of the coop. Grown fowls, or chickens that have left the hen, 
should be cooped up in close quarters over night, in a coop vrith a tight 
floor and no perches, and every part of each fowl, and the floor of the 
coop, should be treated as above described. In this way the powder has 
the whole of the night to accomplish its work in ; whereas, if it is attempt- 
ed to apply it to grown fowls, chicks, or sitting hens, by day, they run 
about and shake their feathers so much that most of the powder falls off 
before it has taken effect. 

We sell a small Bellows, which we send by mail, prepaid, for 25 cts., 
which is exceedingly convenient in applying the powder to poulti^, or 
other animals. 

One of the chief uses of the CARBOLATED POWDER consists in 
its mixture in the dust-bath. In preparing a dusting-place for fowls, 
mix a 35 cent package of the powder with every bushel of road dust, or 
ashes, in the dust-box, and it will seldom be necessary to apply it directly 
to the fowls in the manner above described, as they will attend to that 
business of their own accord, while enjoying the dust-bath. 

Scatter a few spoonfuls of the powder in the nests of the laying hens, 
as well as in those of the sitters, and distribute it freely over the floors of 
the coops for 5'ouug chickens, aud the houses for adult fowls. 



PRICE of the Carbolated Powdek, 25 cts. per package. Large pack* 

ages, containing moie than double the quantity, 50 cts. 
A liberal discount to the tnule. 

H, H. STODDAH.D, Manufacturer, 

Hartfordf Conn* 



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